The GAZ-69 is a Soviet four-wheel drive off-road vehicle produced by GAZ (ГАЗ, or Gorkovsky Avtomobilnyi Zavod , Gorky Automobile Factory) between 1953 and 1956 and then by UAZ between 1956 and 1972, though all of these light truck class vehicles were known as GAZ-69s. It was also produced in Romania until 1975.
8-522: The GAZ-69 was created by the team of chief designer Grigoriy Vasserman as a replacement for the GAZ-67B that would have lower fuel consumption than its predecessor and use the same 55 hp (41 kW ; 56 PS ) 2.1 L (130 cu in) inline four and three-speed transmission as the GAZ-M20 Pobeda . The development process started in 1946 and the first prototypes known under
16-426: A pair of doors and usually has standard canvas top and upper sides; there are two seats in front and two folding benches for three passengers each on sides. The further variant GAZ-69A (UAZ-69A) has four doors, folding canvas top and two rows of seats. It was used as the basis for the rear-wheel drive van GAZ-19 that was built in 1955 but did not pass the prototype stage. The off-road van and light truck UAZ-450 and
24-533: The ARO M461 . GAZ-69s were standard military jeeps of the Eastern Bloc and client states, except Romania that mainly used the locally built ARO models. The standard GAZ-69 was able to reach 56 mph (90 km/h), but more powerful versions, with 2,400 cc (derived from the basic 2,100 cc) 65 h.p. engines and the same three-speed gearbox, could reach 100 km/h (62 mph). They were known as
32-495: The GAZ-69M, or GAZ-69AM for the four-door version. It featured two fuel tanks, one of 47 litres (12 US gal; 10 imp gal) under the floor, one of 28 litres (7 US gal; 6 imp gal) beneath the passenger's seat. All civilian models also had to meet Army requirements, in case of wartime requisitioning . (This is also why a hardtop version was not available until 1993) The basic variant GAZ-69 has
40-644: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a GAZ-69 appears in one of the chases of the film involving Spalko and the main characters. GAZ-67 The GAZ-67 and the GAZ-67B (from January 1944) were general-purpose four-wheel drive Soviet military vehicles built by GAZ starting in 1943. By the end of the war, it was the Soviet equivalent of the World War II jeep . The GAZ-67 was a further development of
48-429: The earlier GAZ-64 . A main improvement was a wider track of 1446 mm. It also had a strengthened chassis frame, enlarged fuel tank and other improvements. It was powered by a slightly more powerful 54 hp (40 kW) version of GAZ M1 4-cylinder 3280 cc gasoline motor, and had a top speed of 90 km/h (56 mph). Production started on 23 September 1943 (the first serial vehicle produced). From January 1944 it
56-674: The name "Truzhenik" (Toiler) were built in 1947. After extensive on-road testing, the new off-road vehicle went into production on August 25, 1953. Over 600,000 GAZ-69s had been built by the end of production in the USSR in 1972. A copy of the GAZ-69 with some modifications was produced by ARO in Romania until 1975, first as the IMS-57 , then heavily redesigned as the IMS M59 , and later modernized as
64-640: The newer UAZ-469 also traced their origins to the GAZ-69. The GAZ-69 had been the basic light off-road vehicle of the Soviet Army, replacing GAZ-67s and Willys Jeeps , before the army adopted the UAZ-469 . It was also used as the basis for the 2P26 tank destroyer , as well as for the GAZ-46 MAV, a light 4x4 amphibious vehicle inspired by the Ford GPA 'Seep'. In the film Indiana Jones and
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